Somewhere, Michael Wilbon is going to be angry at me.

Here we are, at the precipice of the NFL playoffs, at the conclusion of another college football season, in the midst of an NBA season, smack-dab in the middle of a campaign in the rejuvenated NHL, and I’m going to bring it up.

The Yankees hot stove. Wilbon, who writes for the Washington Post and appears on ESPN’s "Pardon the Interruption," can't stand this discussion during the season. He loathes it in the off-season.

Sorry, Wilbon, but the New York Yankees are interesting, no matter what time of year it is.

Five short weeks separate baseball fans from one of those calendar-marked days -- the reporting of pitchers and catchers to spring training – and when the Yankees arrive for spring training, there will be the usual hype.

Many familiar names will be returning -- Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Bernie Williams, Gary Sheffield, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina. And, yes, they have added another big name to the roster -- Johnny Damon.

However, there have been many changes in the coaching staff and, more importantly, there seems to have been a change in how business is conducted within the Yankees’ front office.

Joe Torre returns to manage his 10th season in the Bronx -- unthinkable in George Steinbrenner’s tenure. His staff retains hitting coach Don Mattingly, special pitching instructor Rich Monteleone, and special assignment instructor Rob Thomson.

However, there was plenty of upheaval elsewhere. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyer resigned and was replaced by Yankee great Ron Guidry. Joe Kerrigan takes over as the bullpen coach. Tony Pena and Larry Bowa take over as the first and third Base coaches, respectively.

But the biggest change was no change at all. General Manager Brian Cashman re-signed with the organization after much speculation that he would move on. In doing so, he and Steinbrenner discussed control of personnel decisions as part of their contract negotiations. Cashman now has the final say on player moves. As a result, he is implementing a new plan, which is really the old plan -- a return to the model that won the organization four titles in five years, the last of which came in 2000.

As has been well-documented, the Yankees have tried to fix the roster over the last several seasons by throwing money at all-star talent. The team signed or traded for the likes of Mussina, Giambi, Sheffield, Aaron Boone, Rodriguez, Kevin Brown, Johnson, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright. Since that spending-spree began, the Yankees have appeared in two World Series’, losing both.

To get many of these players, the Yankees had to trade away a number of their young prospects, damaging the farm system that helped produce their dynasty of the late ‘90s. This was reminiscent of the Yankees of the ‘80s, who traded solid, young players for big names with mediocre results.

Last season, with the team struggling, injuries mounting, and no possible way to trade the high-priced talent, the Yankees were forced to call up two young players from AAA Columbus: second baseman Robinson Cano and pitcher Chien-Ming Wang. Although Wang was injured in July and didn’t return until late September, both players contributed to the Yankees turning their season around. Cano played 132 games, batted .297 with 14 home runs and 62 RBIs, while Wang started 17 games, had eight wins and a 4.02 ERA.

And the seeds of change were planted.

Cashman wants to build from within the organization. He wants to reconstruct a farm system that already has several pieces in place. He wants to return to a responsible management of the payroll. Most importantly, he wants to use free agency and trades as a way of finishing the team, not forming it. Although it is too early to tell whether this will be successfully carried out, this off-season seems to have started in the right direction.

The Yankees landed Damon to fill two holes in their lineup -- a center fielder with range (if only an average arm) and a leadoff hitter. The key is how they landed him: his contract is a four-year deal worth $52 million. That is much less than what he was seeking, and less than he could have gotten by returning to arch-rival Boston.

The Bombers didn’t overspend (at least not drastically) to fill two needs and they weakened the Red Sox in the process. That’s solid management, assuming that Damon continues to produce numbers similar to his 2005 tallies of a .316 batting average, 75 RBIs and 117 runs scored for another two or three seasons.

The Yankees followed suit with many of their other signings as well. Cashman bolstered the bullpen, a major weakness last season, with Octavio Dotel (for $2 million), Mike Myers ($2.4 million) and Kyle Farnsworth (three years, $17 million), who the Yankees will use as the set-up man for Rivera. The hope is that Farnsworth may replace Rivera in time. Cashman also traded for lefty Ron Villone.

These relievers, along with the returning Jaret Wright, Aaron Small and Scott Proctor, should offer strong support to the questionable, but potentially deep, starting rotation of Johnson, Mussina, Wang, Shawn Chacon and Pavano.

Cashman also re-signed Hideki Matsui and Williams to reasonable contracts, establishing continuity and loyalty. He added Miguel Cairo as well, who returns to the team as the utility infielder after playing one season with the Mets.

Additionally, the Yankees traded disgruntled infielder Tony Womack to Cincinnati for two young prospects.

Finally, the Yankees seem primed to give more opportunities to their young players. Cano and Wang will be regulars. Outfielder Melky Cabrera, who played a handful of games for the big-league team last season, will see some time, as will first baseman/designated hitter Andy Phillips and outfielder Bubba Crosby.

The sum total of these moves seems to be a return to the formula that formed their dynasty -- a focus on pitching, development of solid players in the farm system and sticking with those players, and using free agency and trades as a way of adding a missing piece.

Perhaps the days of the Yankees trying to buy championships are over -- perhaps a return to winning them is on the horizon.